Thursday, 18 January 2018

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Coming to the novel, much debated in the 20th century, To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woold, we can say one thing with confidence or at least, conviction. The novel is lesser a novel and more a psychological journey into the psyche of humanity - the then humanity which had a grand grip over the thoughts and actions of human beings - dilemma, delusion, indecisiveness, and much more. Woolf has clearly portrayed a picture which is lesser a whole and more a fragment which shows the fragmented human life which was not sure of anything. To The Lighthouse is lesser the light and more the darkness of hopelessness and dismay. A novel, necessary it was then, to show us how meek we were and still continue to be.

In the name of characters, there are many by important ones are Mr and Mrs Ramsay and their children who keep dying over the time. Lily is another character who is important but not a member of this family. Events are minute at times and other times, they pass so fast that the readers are in a little hurried mind - as if they have missed something.

The stream of consciousness, to me, continues to be a dilemma - what it was? What does it mean today? Does consciousness even have some kind of stream which keeps flowing? I keep asking these questions to myself everytime I flip the pages of the novels written by Joyce or Woolf. What did they try to portray? The human mind is surely in a state of flux and it does not stay unless we cease to be human! You will find the novel amazing at times and horrific as well, in several instances.

There is no need to comment on the writing style and content of Woolf because, even if nobody is afraid of Virginia Woolf, she was a powerful writer - disillusioned by her own mental fallacies at times, she has produced some of the most remarkable pieces of literature which will surely continue to keep her name alive. In her novel, the concerned one, To The Lighthouse, she has surely maintained a kind of certain disenchantment with the fiction - that's something beyond fiction - something which comes to you as if riding the vessel of your thoughts!

To The Lighthouse, physically, is a very short novel and can be read in a few hours if you decide so. However, can you understand it? That will certainly take a day or two of your busy life and let me tell you, that's worth it! If you want, you can get the best edition of Woolf's To The Lighthouse from the Amazon link below and enjoy reading it:

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Book Reviews Web

Book Reviews Web is an extension to the Book Reviews Online project, originally a part of Ashvamegh International Literature Magazine's book promotions drive. We review books by our own as well as those received by authors from different places. You can also browse our packages and enjoy a whole lot of services provided by us. Know more: Book Marketing